Next week, nations hit by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami will gather to honor the more than 220,000 lives lost in one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. Memorials and ceremonies will take place across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand—the hardest-hit countries—remembering the giant waves that devastated coastal communities.
On December 26, 2004, a massive undersea earthquake triggered waves as high as 30 meters, sweeping away families, homes, and even tourists along the Indian Ocean coastline. In Indonesia’s Aceh province, where over 160,000 lives were lost, ceremonies will include a moment of silence and visits to mass graves. In Sri Lanka, a special train ceremony will revisit the site where an express train was ripped from its tracks, killing nearly 1,000 passengers. Thailand will hold memorials for over 5,000 victims, many of them tourists, and offer a “walk-run” to honor survivors and promote disaster preparedness.
Two decades later, the Indian Ocean now boasts an advanced tsunami warning system, a legacy of the tragedy that has saved countless lives since.
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